Trump fears US presidential elections could be ‘rigged’

Washington, Aug 3 (IANS) Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said he feared that the November elections could be “rigged”, and referred to Democratic rival Hillary Clinton as “the devil”.

“I’m afraid the election is going to be rigged, I have to be honest,” EFE news quoted Trump as saying during a campaign rally in Columbus, Ohio.

Later, the businessman-turned-politician reiterated his comments in an interview with Fox.

Trump urged the public to “watch very closely” when the Nov 8 elections roll around and called on Republicans to be vigilant since he fears the transparency of the voting process could be threatened.

At a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump called Clinton “the devil” and said Senator Bernie Sanders should have continued his campaign instead of supporting her for the Democratic nomination.

The Republican candidate has been the target of criticism in recent days from GOP members and military families for his comments over remarks made by the father of an American Muslim soldier slain in Iraq.

Khizr Khan, father of the fallen soldier, slammed Trump last week at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia for his proposal for temporarily banning Muslims from entering the United States to deal with the threat of jihadist terrorism.

In the most recent poll released on Tuesday by NBC, Clinton leads Trump by eight points, 50 per cent to 42 per cent.